MISTRESSES and Cutting It star Sarah Parish reveals why she was thrilled to land a part in the new series of Broadchurch…

Nobody knows I’m a West Country girl,” smiles Sarah Parish. “Most people think I’m northern, but I was born up the road and I know the area really well.”

The area in question is Broadchurch country, otherwise known as West Bay on Dorset’s stunning Jurassic Coast. During the summer tourists flock to the beach and promenade that fans will recognise from the crime drama.

A newcomer to Broadchurch for its third and final series, Sarah explains that the show’s makers had no idea she was a local when auditioning her, particularly when they asked her to try out a West Country twang. Of course, Sarah nailed it.

“They didn’t realise this was the accent I grew up with,” says Sarah, 48, who was brought up just 15 miles away in Yeovil, Somerset. “It wasn’t particularly strong, except when I was at school, so I could fit in with my peers. But it came back easily enough.

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Sarah laughs a hearty laugh that those of us who know her, from series such as Cutting It, Mistresses, Merlin and Atlantis, are familiar with. She explains that landing a Broadchurch role is a great gig for any actress.

The hit ITV crime drama that stars David Tennant and Olivia Colman as cops DI Alec Hardy and DS Ellie Miller pulled in 7.5 million viewers when the first episode aired three weeks ago. It reaches its third episode this week, with Sarah part of an influx of newcomers that includes Sir Lenny Henry and Coronation Street star Julie Hesmondhalgh.

Sarah is playing Cath Atwood, a local girl whose 50th birthday party was the setting for the series’ pivotal crime – Trish Winterman (Julie) was raped by an unknown assailant during the bash. Hardy and Miller are now interviewing Cath’s party guests, bringing the crime a bit closer to home.

Sarah describes Cath as a former shining star of Broadchurch whose lustre has worn off somewhat. “Cath is the girl everyone wanted to be at school – popular, good-looking, the leader of the gang,” explains Sarah.

“She married the handsome athlete, but everything went a bit sour. She stayed in the same town, didn’t have kids and now she works in a farm shop with Trish that’s owned by Ed Burnett (Lenny Henry). She’s a big fish in a small pond and made her husband fork out for a big 50th party, and then there’s this terrible assault.”

ITV

The cast of the series

Sarah explains that returning to Dorset to film Broadchurch was quite difficult for her.

“It was very nostalgic for me,” explains Sarah, who lives in Hampshire with her husband, the actor James Murray, and their seven-year-old daughter, Nell. “I spent a lot of time in West Bay and Lyme Regis as a kid. But at the same time we filmed Broadchurch, my brother and sister and I were finally selling the family home in Yeovil.

“My dad, Bill, passed away a few years ago and my mum, Thelma, is in a home near my sister in Hertfordshire, so while I enjoyed filming Broadchurch, it was a bit of a difficult summer.”

She adds that the last time she’d seen her dad alive was just a few miles down the coast from West Bay: they’d met to walk his dog on a beach before going for ice cream. Three weeks later, her father had a stroke and died shortly after. “That was in 2013, and I hadn’t been back here since,” she says.

Family life and work are keeping Sarah very busy. She’s currently filming the BBC1 comedy W1A, in which she plays incompetent BBC manager Anna Rampton, and after that she will head to Manchester to star in Bancroft, a new ITV Encore police thriller.

She juggles it with being a mum to daughter Nell and with charity work. Sarah and James also run The Murray Parish Trust, a charity they set up in honour of their first child, Ella-Jayne, who died in 2009 of a congenital heart defect.

Last year, they set themselves the daunting task of raising £2 million in two years to help build a state-of-the-art children’s emergency trauma department at University Hospital Southampton.

Meet the cast of Broadchurch

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Broadchurch series 3: Meet the cast of the new series.

“We’ve just had a huge donation from an American, a substantial enough amount for us to probably begin the building of this ER, which is fantastic!” enthuses Sarah, who raises money through sporting and community events and fundraising dinners and festivals.

“It started off as a nice idea, and we thought if we could raise £40-50,000 we’d be happy, but it’s going from strength to strength.”

But success at work and as a charity campaigner comes at a cost, admits Sarah. “ I don’t know how we’re going to manage to do all this charity work and keep working!” she says ruefully. “But we’re very proud of what we’ve achieved. I hope the charity continues to thrive.”